‘Civil rights fight of our time’: new film explores the battle over US libraries

A Sarah Jessica Parker-produced documentary on the brave librarians fighting a wave of rightwing book bans has sparked conversation at Sundance

A chilling new documentary at the Sundance film festival examines the phenomenon of book banning in US schools, which flourished in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the ordinary heroes who fight them on the local level.

The Librarians, directed by Kim A Snyder and executive produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, follows several school librarians from Texas, Florida, Louisiana and New Jersey who were either fired, harassed or significantly challenged for their refusal to remove books from their shelves deemed “inappropriate” by conservative state legislatures, school board members or parents. Such banned books, usually branded “pornographic”, typically include African American history, LGBTQ+ friendly children’s books, any book addressing racism in America or classics, such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved, deemed in violation of “Judeo-Christian principles”. One librarian in Texas described how she was forced to lock selected books behind closed doors. “Every book that was on that shelf was like telling a student ‘we want to put you behind locks,’” she says in the film.

Topics

The battle over DeepSeek as AI enters new phase: hacks, restrictions and censorship

DeepSeek has challenged Wall Street’s notion of AI spending. The Chinese AI startup also faces challenges of its own.
MarketWatch - 1d
Is assisted dying a ‘clear and present danger’ to people with disabilities? New US film asks tough questions

Reid Davenport, whose documentary Life After is at Sundance, thinks euthanasia has ‘a lot to do with cost savings’. In 1983, Elizabeth Bouvia, a 26-year-old woman in California with a non-terminal ...
The Guardian - 2d
Advocates ‘deeply worried’ as Trump’s justice department halts new civil rights cases

Call to stop civil rights cases follows order putting staff on federal DEI programs on leave as a prelude to shutting programs down. US politics live – latest updates The Department of Justice ...
The Guardian - 6d
The Right Is Winning the Battle for Hearts and Minds

The full-scale assault by the conservative movement on liberal domination of the nation’s culture has begun to deliver key victories.
The New York Times - Jan. 22
Biden pardons civil rights leader on last day

Garvey, one of the earliest internationally-known Black civil rights leaders, was convicted of mail fraud in 1923.
ABC News - Jan. 20
The MAGA fight over skilled immigrants could cost us all

Do we really want to live in a country without Nvidia, Tesla or Viggo Mortensen?
MarketWatch - Jan. 18
US imposes sanctions on Sudan’s army chief over tactics in deadly civil war

Measures come a week after Washington also sanctioned Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s rival, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The United States has imposed sanctions on Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, ...
The Guardian - Jan. 16
The looming battles over US economic policy thinking

Both Republicans and Democrats are split between populist and oligarchic visions
Financial Times - Jan. 9
Texas GOP civil war reaches bruising climax with leadership battle

Long-simmering tensions within the Texas GOP are spilling out into the open amid a heated battle for the state House Speaker seat. The fight underscores long-standing friction between the rump of ...
The Hill - Jan. 5